Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-05-07

thick lips, the fat cheeks and tho squat nose
standing out with startling clearness against
the flaming background. There too was tia
round skull, washed into shape perhaps by
thousands Of years of wind and weather, and,
10 complete the resemblance, there was q
scrubby growth of weeds or lichen upon it,
which against thes looked for all the world
like the wool on colossal Negroes head 1t
certainly was very odd-so odd that now
believe that II Is not a mere freak of nature,
but a gigantic monument, fashioned, like the
well known Egyptian Sphinx, by forgotten
people out OF pile Of rock that lent itself TO
their design, perhaps as m emblem of warn
ing and defiance to any enemies who APP
preached the harbor, Unfortunately we
were never able to ascertain whether or not
this was the case, inasmuch az the rock was
difficult of access both from the land and the
water side, and we had other things to attend
to. Myself, considering the matter by the
light Of what we afterward saw, Il believe it
was fashioned by man, but whether or not
CHS is so, there 1t stands, and sullenly stares
from age to age out across the changing sea
there it stood 1900 years and more
ago, when Amenartas, the Egyptian princess,
and the wife Of Leos remote ancestor Kali
krates gazed upon its devilish face and there
have no doubt 1t will stand when as many
centuries as are numbered between her day
and our own are added to the year that bore
Us to oblivion.
what do you think of that, Job n asked
| OF our retainer, who was sitting on tho
edge OF the boat, trying to get as much sun
shine as possible, and generally looking UNI
commonly vretched, and l pointed to the
| fiery, demoniacal head
"Oh, Lord, sir" answered Job, who now
perceived the object for the first time, 81
think that the old gentleman must have been
sitting for his portrait ON them rocks"
laughed, and the laugh woke up Leo.
"Hello," he said, "whats the matter with
mel am all stiff. Where is the dhown
| "You may be thankful that YOU are not
sitter, my boy,"I answered. 1.-THE dhow is
sunk, and everybody on board her isdrowned,
with the exception Of us four and your own
life was only saved by miracle" and while
Job, now that 1t was light enough, searched
about in locker for the brandy, for which
Leo asked, told him the history of our
nights adventure.
"Great heavensl" he said, family; aand to
think that we should have been chosen to
live through it'll"
By this time the brandy was forthcoming,
and we all had good pull at it, and thankful
enough we were for it, Also the sun was be-
ginning to getstrength and warmed our chilled
bones, for we had been wet through for five
hours or more.
"Why," said Leo, with gasp. as he put
down tho brandy bottle, "there is the head
the writing talks of-'the rock shaped like the
head of an Ethiopian"
eyes," l said, "there it is"
swell, theu, he answered, "the whole thing
Is true"
II don't at all see that that follows" I an
swered. "We knew this head was here; YOU
father saw 1t. Very likely it is not the SANE
head that the writing talks of, or if it is, il
proves nothing"
Leo smiled at me in a superior way "Yot
are an unbelieving Jew, Uncle Horace" b,
said. "Those who live will see.n
"Exactly So" answered; "and now per
haps you observe that we are drifting acros
q sand bank into the mouth of the river. &c
hold Of your oar, Job, and we win row in an,
see if we can't find place to land"
The river mouth which we were enterin.
did not appear to be a very wide one, though
, as yet the long banks of steaming mist tina
chung about its shores had not lifted sufficient
ly to enable us to see its exact width. Their
was, as is the case with nearly every cas-
African river, a considerable bar at tn
mouth, which, no doubt, when the wind
of shore and the tide running out, was absc
lutely impossible even for boat drawin
only few inches. But as things were it wa
manageable enough, and we did not ship
cupful of water. In twenty minutes we wer
well across it, with but slight assistance fror
ourselves, and being carried by a stron
though somewhat variable breeze well up th
= harbor. By this time the mist was bein
y sucked up by the sun, which was getting III
comfortably hot, and we saw that the mout
of the little estuary was here about half
mile across, and that the banks wer
: very marshy and crowded with croct
= dies lying about on tho mud like log
. About a mile ahead of us, however
= was what appeared to be strip
firm land, and for this we steered In Of
y other quarter Of an hour we were there, an
:, making the boat fast to beautiful tree wit
= broad shining leaves, and flowers of the ma;
!. nola species, only they were rose colored an
y not white, which hung over the water, "
= disembaiked. This done, we undresse,
= washed ourselves, and spread our clothes an
= the contents Of the boat in the sun to dr.
=. which they quickly did, and then taking she
y ter from the sun under some trees, we made
- hearty breakfast Off a "Paysandu" pottt
= tongue, of which we had brought good qua
y tity with us from the army and navy store
~ congratulating ourselves enormously on o,
:. good fortune in having loaded and provision,
20 the boat on the previous day before the hu
~ ricane destroyed the dhow. By the time tn
~ we had finished our meal our clothes we
~ dry, and we fastened to get into them, fe,
~ ing not little refreshed. Indeed, with Il
- exception of WEAKNESS and few bruist
none of us were the worse for our terrifyil
~ adventure, which had been fatal to all o
10 companions. Leo, it is true, had been hi
~ drowned, but that is no great matter to
- vigorous young athlete of five-and-twenty
" After breakfast we started to look abo
- us. We were on a strip of dry land abo
y, 200 yards broad by 500 long, bordered on o
~ side by the river and on the other three
~ endless, desolate swamps, that stretched as
- - as the eye could reach. This strip of la
" was raised about twenty-five feet above
-, level of the surrounding swamps and
~ river level; indeed, it had every appearan
~ =. Of having been made by the hand of man.
a. az "This place has been a wharf, said L.
"a Dramatically.